Says strict action against employees if passengers are charged
Goa Airport Director Dhanamjaya Rao while speaking to media on Tuesday.
Photo Credits: Vikram Nayak
VASCO
Goa Airport Director Dhanamjaya Rao on Tuesday insisted that trolley and wheelchair is a free service offered to passengers at Goa Airport and warned that strict action would be taken against employees if passengers are charged.
Speaking to reporters, Rao also appealed to the State government authorities to improve infrastructure around Goa airport in view of the G20 Summit.
"The trolley and wheelchair is a free service offered to our passengers at Goa Airport. It is very unfortunate that a passenger with reduced mobility (PRM) recently complained that she was charged Rs 4,000 by some people working at Goa airport. We immediately investigated and checked on the CCTV and suspended the staff on duty,” said Rao.
“While we condemn the incident, we appeal to people to immediately bring to our notice if passengers are charged for trolley or wheelchair which is a free service to our passengers at Goa Airport.”
Rao said there was no change in the handling of flights even after Mopa Airport had begun operations.
"We are receiving the same number of flights and we have new international flights being announced from Goa to Dubai from April. Domestic flights have also increased and people are asking for more slots. We have crossed the pre-Covid air traffic as of now and there have been no difference in our flight operations," said Rao.
"We are facing some issues like touts, unauthorised parking on roadside by rent-a-car vehicles. We also see that some stretch of the road near the Airport is not proper and there is lack of illumination. We have discussed these issues in details and placed before state authorities and they are on the job.”
“We expect the State government to help us improve infrastructure around the airport in view of the G20 summit. We have already started the beautification around the airport, improved the illumination inside the airport, carried out beautiful wall painting and we have also started the branding of the G20 Summit," said Rao.
The airport director said works are in progress for the expansion of the terminal building. “The work is likely to be completed latest by December and it will add to additional 2 million passengers, taking our capacity to handle around 14 million passengers per annum," said Rao.
